The invention relates to a housing for micromixer, having two planar housing parts which bear against one another in a parting plane and connecting elements which connect the two housing parts.
Various embodiments of micromixers for mixing liquid, viscous or gaseous phases are known. In the embodiment involved here, the mixer housing has two planar housing parts which are pressed against one another in a sealed manner by means of their mutually facing connecting surfaces. To connect such mixer housing parts in a sealed manner, it is known to use a plurality of setscrews which are distributed over the circumference, are fitted through attachment holes in one housing part and screwed into threaded holes in the other housing part or are also fitted through threaded holes in the other housing part and are provided on the rear side of the housing with nuts. This involves relatively high manufacturing outlay. In particular, the time and work involved in the frequently required dismantling and reassembly of the housing parts is relatively high.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to design a housing for micromixers of the generic type described in the introduction in such a way that it is simple to produce and can be opened and closed in a simple manner with little work and within a short time.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the fact that the two housing parts are designed substantially in the form of a circular disc and, on their circumferential edge facing away from the parting plane, have a frustoconical surface, and that a multi-part clamping ring, which can be tightened in the circumferential direction, engages around the edges of the two housing parts and bears against the two frustoconical surfaces.
The two frustoconical surfaces form broad, flat chamfers on the outer circumferential edges of the housing parts; the clamping ring which is pressed radially onto these frustoconical surfaces from all sides ensures that the two housing parts are pressed together uniformly, in order to achieve the sealed closure in the parting plane.
To dismantle the housing, it is sufficient to loosen the clamping ring and to take the two housing parts apart. Conversely, assembly takes place in an equally simple way; the two housing parts are fitted onto one another and the clamping ring is placed around them and tightened.
The accurate alignment of the two housing parts with respect to one another can be achieved by centering. Preferably, the two housing parts are centered with respect to one another by means of at least one centering pin.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the clamping ring has two substantially semicircular ring segments which are connected to one another at least at one of their two connection points by a clamping element. The clamping element may be a screw which connects the two ring segments in the circumferential direction. Such a simple mechanical arrangement, which is known, for example as a commercially available small flange joint, is quite sufficient to ensure a high and uniformly distributed pressure on the two parts with respect to one another by means of the wedge effect which is generated at the flat frustoconical surfaces.
Preferably, the two ring segments are articulatedly connected to one another at the connection point which lies opposite the clamping element. As a result, only single clamping element is required for the clamping operation.